At approximately 12:45 p.m. Emirates flight EK521 was “involved in an operational incident” which resulted in the aircraft catching fire, said the airline in a statement.
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“Emirates can confirm that today, 3 August 2016, flight EK521 traveling from Trivandrum International Airport in Thiruvananthapuram, India to Dubai has been involved in an accident at Dubai International Airport”, the airline said in a statement. Only one person was admitted for long-term treatment, local media said.
State-run Air India diverted nine of its Dubai-bound flights from different Indian cities to nearby airports like Sharjah and Al Maktoum International Airport.
“Emergency response teams at Dubai Airport have fully extinguished the fire on the Emirates plane and all passengers & crew were safely evacuated”, the Dubai government media office tweeted on its official account.
According to the airline, 20 nationalities were represented among the flight’s passengers and crew – 226 Indian nationals, 24 Brits, 11 Emiratis, six USA citizens and six Saudis.
Among the 282 passengers, seven infants were also travelling in the flight, Thiruvananthapuram Airport director George Tharakkan told PTI.
Speculation on the causes of the accident unwise at this point, says aviation expert.. “Thankfully, there was not fatalities among our passengers and crew”.
A firefighter was killed while responding to a plane that crash-landed at Dubai airport and became engulfed in fire, the Emirates airline chairman has said.
The captain and the first officer have over 7,000 hours of flying experience each, the airline said.
Iype Vallikadan, one of the passengers, said the pilot announced as the plane neared Dubai that there was a problem with the landing gear and that he would make an emergency landing, the Associated Press reported.
The live air traffic monitor Flightradar24 posted more details of the aircraft involved in the incident.
Operator Dubai Airports said all arrivals and departures at Dubai International had been suspended until further notice and an update on the status of operations at the airport would be issued at 5 p.m. (1300 GMT).
Dubai International is the world’s largest hub in terms of international passengers, and is the base for Emirates, from where it serves more than 153 destinations.
Passengers escaped the burning plane using inflatable slides.
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Video of the incident reportedly showed a tower of flame bursting from the front of the aircraft, and then a thick black plume of smoke rising into the sky.
